1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to doors especially of a vehicle such as an automobile, a bus, a freight car and the like and, more particularly, to a device for opening and closing the door.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a conventional automobile door is hinged to a side frame of a car body and provided at its free edge with a locking device such as a retractable locking bolt. The conventional automobile door is thus turned about the hinged connections in order to be opened or closed. When the door is closed, the locking bolt of the door is engaged with a locking slot of the side frame of the car body and retains the closed state of the door. The conventional automobile door, while having no problem in its opening and closing motions, nevertheless has no means for retaining the door at a desired angular opening state. That is, the conventional automobile door can not be stably retained at an opened state since it has no means for retaining the door opening state. In this regard, when an opened state of the automobile door is continued for a time such as for loading or unloading goods on or from the automobile, the opened door may be unconsciously closed due to an outside force such as wind force or due to its own weight, the unconscious closing of the door due to the door weight being generated particularly when the automobile is stopped on a slope. Hence, the conventional automobile door causes a safety accident and a car body damage.